i tried equipping the grand knight's lance but a command error occured so im using this instead.

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The best part of Final Fantasy XI is its rich storyline. It separates this game from other MMORPGs. I chose to give my character a storyline that goes along with the game's storyline. I find that this is a more fun way to play the game. Playing the game just to fight in the endgame and collect elite equipment is very boring and is totally missing the main objective of the game, which is to guide your character through the storyline which is to save the world.

I prefer this lance over Grand Knight's. The Acc, doesn't really have much effect. I was using it in Valley of Sorrows, I thought it'd be better then schwarz cause I was missing alot, but I in fact misses more with it =/ Don't ask me why, but I did

That's an oxymoron saying that accuracy on the Gkn knights lance makes you miss more then on the lance with no accuracy bonus, your the kind of people that make people hate dragoons because most think most are idiots.

Grand Knights lance is much better.. with that lance I hardly miss in exp partys and I already do decent damage as it is. The vit and str isnt worth it to me. Theres a reason why GKL is more expansive.. its better.

Grand Knight's Lance has 80 Dmg, Accuracy +7 and 498 delay. Schwarz Lance has 82 dmg, Str + 2, Vit + 4 and 551 delay. Ignoring the higher damage by 2 and the delay for a moment you look at Accuracy versus str and vit. Accuracy is very good, but strength increases damage potential and vitality increases physical damage resistance. Dragoons worry NOT about being attacked, if we are true dragoons, we never get hit. You're left with STR versus accuracy. 7 Accuracy is a good amount, considering that by now you should probably already have a Life Belt that gives you +10 accuracy, now you have +17 accuracy. Yay for landing hits more often. BUT, how much does the Lance cost? A lot, and the only better stat is its accuracy. You already have 10 accuracy under your belt (no pun intended) why not work on some other stats? Well, like before you have more attack, more damage potential and can take hits a little better. Here is where it gets really complicated, so just bare with me...

To develop a powerful fighter you need to have balanced stats and pay close attention to that job's pros and cons. You need to weigh heavely their potential and improve upon that job's attributes. For a dragoon we have very good str, we have one of the highest accuracies of any job, good dex but we lack in vitality and agility. As I said before a dragoon is not looking to take damage from a monster in a party (which is what we spend most of our time in btw :P) so we don't need to depend on that too much, although, having more doesn't hurt. Agility improves ranged accuracy and has a "substantial impact on a person's chance to dodge enemy attacks" (Final Fantasy XI Official Strategy Guide - Brady Games). Again, if we are true dragoons, we don't expect much damage from a monster, but it wouldn't hurt to see a "miss" at the top of your head when a monster turns on you. Dragoons are melee oriented fighters, we do damage, strength increases our damage potential, nuff said. DEX increases your chance to land a critical hit and affects our melee accuracy. Melee accuracy? Sign me up for that program! Critical rate increase? Sweet! Intelligence? That stat increases your damage with spells, meh. Mind? That increases your healing magic power and lowers the damage you take from spells. I think I'll let a mage work on those stats. Unless you want to be a /mage than these stats would play a more important role. Mind, the only real stat that would make a difference for a dragoon would help you heal better and you'd take less damage from a spell, but right now I'm talking about a /war DRG. Besides, you wouldn't be a /mage until you were 60+ and if you were taking your own hits then that would be a completely different story. So, a character is suppose to be balanced (by balanced, I mean have increases in stats everywhere, rather than focusing on just one stat). The reason for this is because if you are up against a higher level monster expecting to kill it the only way you can make up the difference in levels is to some how be stronger than your level. The way to do that is to have increases to STR, DEX, VIT and accuracy, not just accuracy. Anywho that's what I wanted to say about developing a character's stats.

Now back to the weapons. If you get a Grand Knight's Lance you increase your character's accuracy, giving you a lower delay and good attack. If you get a Schwarz Lance you have higher attack, though you hit less often with a delay of 551 (but let's be honest, with a delay of 498 it's not exactly like you're swinging away at this monster with Matrix like speeds), you get more strength which makes you hit harder and more vitality, which just in case, you'll take less damage from a melee hit. The Schwarz Lance is a more balanced weapon and according to me a balanced character is a great weapon. :)

So, I dunno about you, but I am going to go with Schwarz Lance, see you on the battlefield friends!

Welp at least all drgs dont think like you. I'm a drk just scanning bcnms trying to find a good one for my LS, and i perchance upon this weapon. As soon as I saw the delay on this I naturally assumed it had to do considerably more damage to merit its HUGE delay, and hearing only a 2 dmg difference and missing out on 7 Acc this should be a no brainer. As for the Str bonus 2 isnt even worth counting your sushi should give way more than that, and if your not using sushi and using this weapon....

I disagree with your overall message. A balanced fighter offers less than a specialized one. When in a party, the party as a whole should be balanced, not the individiuals in it. As a melee, hitting the target should take priority over how hard you hit it. TP is more useful than 2 points of extra damage you might get by using the Schwarz. Afterall, what good is being stronger if you don't land your hits? Another thing, people shell out well over 5 million gil for the Scorpion Harness, which gives +10 ACC, only 3 more than the GKL. This alone should cue you that ACC is a very valuable trait. Much more so than VIT, with the exception of soloing (in which case this lance is great). If you're a good damage dealer, you know to maximize weapon skills, you macro in some STR gear just before the skill, maximizing efforts--ACC at first to land as many hits as possible to gain 100% TP, then STR, to put out the most damage with your weapon skills. You said yourself "Melee accuracy? Sign me up for that program!" So why would you not choose it over a mere 2 STR? Also, is your profile up to date? According to that, you're 60 and use neither of these, but are still using the Holy Lance.

Also, is your profile up to date? According to that, you're 60 and use neither of these, but are still using the Holy Lance.

No, it wasn't up to date. I was debating over which was better before I had the gil to get it.

On my server, this lance was more expensive than GKL. So it must have been some how better than the GKL, according to the AH. But we all know better than to trust the AH, it's fickle and sometimes inflated by gil sellers.

Anywho, I don't disagree that acc is very important to a DRG. You even say that adding a STR macro to maximize your WS is important. I look at this weapon and see that STR +2 is not something to ignore. Neither is the extra dmg. Let's be honest, having 7% more accuracy is not going to mean that if I didn't have it I wouldn't hit and somehow would be swipping air during the entire fight. I can make up the accuracy somewhere else. Like the Scorpion harness. I'd have a total of 20 accuracy. I could have 27 but I choose to do more damage instead of having a chance to hit 7% more.

Yes, I do plan on soloing. I'm currently lvling my WAR to 37 (he's 36 now) then I'll raise WHM up to 37. I'll party some nights and solo others. I'll see how that works out. I don't pretend to be an expert, this is just what I think will be better for my char. If I got out and party and just get slaughtered because of my meeger accuracy I'll change my tactics. Until then, the lance is fun.

p.s. The lance's delay is so high that missing a single hit would spell disaster, so I really need more than just the Life Belt. I'll have to buy some specialized equipment I guess.

There is a slight problem with your argument here. Yes, more damage is better, but let's face it, with 17 Acc, you would deal more damage at that lvl than with 10 Acc and +2 Str, purely because You would hit more often (Not to mention actually attacking slightly more often) for almost the exact same amount of damage. +2 Str gives you about +1 Atk.

You, in essence, are saying that +4 Vit (which you shouldn't ever use unless you are a Drg/mage) and + 1 Atk (I know this isn't exactly correct, but it is pretty close.) is better than +7 Acc. A Dragoon should have increases in stats in this order: Acc, Dex, Atk, Str. (Dex and Acc are almost equally important in my opinion). I see no reason why we should sacrifice part of our ability to actually hit the opponent for a *very* slight increase in our ability to do more damage when we do hit them and a slight increase in our ability to take hits (which, if we have a good tank, we should not be taking)

If you are a Drg/Mage, the +4 Vit would probably have a use. However, as a Drg/War, you should not be taking physical damage hits ever, except from AoE attacks. All in all, +2 Str just doesn't increase your damage-dealing capability as much as +7 Acc and + 4 Vit (which translates to about 2 Def) doesn't increase your ability to take damage nearly enough to make a difference.

ok, let me start off by saying this, you would have to be a completely ignorant moron to believe that 2 attack will do more than 2 strength. Sure a few attack might raise your average damage by a point or 2, but str can raise your max damage, quite significantly in some cases. now which would you rather have a damage range from 50-80, with an average of roughly 65 damage per hit, or a damage range of 60-100 with an average damage of roughly 80 damage per hit. as for the rest of your stat preference, its pretty much right where it should be, however, all stats will reach their diminishing returns, and while i do agree that acc is more important than str, if your already hitting 80% of the time, then you should switch gears and either buy a little more str gear for slots that you have, say, 1 or 2 dex, or only 1 acc, and put in some str gear, this wont hurt your accurace too bad, since your already hitting your diminishing returns for this stat. also, never forget that we are the only melee job with an accuracy bonus, so keep this in mind when buying gear, as for this lance, i would personally take it over the RKL, but only if i was hitting mobs consistantly, and was starting to notice some diminishing returns in acc. after all, hitting the mobs for 50 damage with 80% acc, is much better than hitting the mobs for 80 damage, with 40% acc.

The Schwarz Lance's stats are too much to pass up for just a *chance* to hit my target. I'm not saying accuracy is bad, I'm just saying I'd much rather do the more damage and have a greater damage potential than hitting more often. If +7 accuracy translates to a 7% more likely chance of hitting a target, I'd rather just be lucky and do the better damage. My argument was not choosing str and vit and dmg over acc it was just simply choosing 2 stats over 1. I can make up the accuracy some where else.

I prefer this lance over Grand Knight's. The Acc, doesn't really have much effect. I was using it in Valley of Sorrows, I thought it'd be better then schwarz cause I was missing alot, but I in fact misses more with it =/ Don't ask me why, but I did

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I am one. I am alone. That shall forever be my destiny. Alone. By onesself, that is the Heir to the Holy Crest.

i've been using this too. hell right now w/ sushi i have accuracy out the wazoo. started using it when i hit 60 in the valley and have been very happy with it. i'm not missing very much at all so ihave no desire for the grand knights lance. plus i saved a bunch of cash not buying the knights lance. grand knights is 220k on my server. this was like 20k-50k dont remember